Bluetooth Private Members Club?

I think there are sensible youngsters (if they don't mind me calling them youngsters) as can be seen on this forum in the shape of Ash. OK, I know he can be quite "vocal" but I was the same at that age.

The difficulty is that HiFi in general hasn't understood their needs or wants. I know I'd very much like to understand them - I was once in that age-group as we all were. Many companies in HiFi however, don't want to understand them - they're too arrogant because they are successful... for the time being.

And because the large and influential players in HiFi (magazines and their often pompous editors included) have chosen to ignore them, the younger end reciprocate accordingly.

This means that the cottage industry manufacturer has a massive job in being able to communicate with the younger end. We want to make the products that fit their life, and we can make those products, but will they simply be stuck on the shelf to gather dust?

That is exactly what they will do. It's not that we caused the problem, but we become part of that problem.

We are told we must engage with the younger end socially because that's where the younger end spend their time - on social networks. They search using #hashtags but #hifi isn't going to be a hip hashtag, is it?

I did spot Ash's comment regarding a portable music player. They already exist and are called smartphones, but we can make products to work with smartphones. The Bitzie is a wired smartphone device as Andrew has told us time and again. Andrew is basically a youngster in older skin (if he doesn't mind me saying).

But attaching the Bitzie to a smartphone is a trifle cumbersome - it needs a USB cable and an on the go shorty cable, as well as headphones and the Bitzie itself. Andrew and people like him will put up with that because of the audio quality and although I don't fly like he does and don't know the rules, I would guess a wired connection on a plane might be better than bluetooth?

Bluetooth however is a desired form of connectivity and it seems it is a must have for the younger end. The Head-Fi community mainly prefer wired connections more than Bluetooth but when it comes to casual listening or parties, they often like the convenience of Bluetooth. I guess offering wired as well as Bluetooth would be sensible.

Ash, we can do Bluetooth! Although we can't do atpX because like Apple connectivity, a giant licence fee that's beyond a cottage industry, is required - we can go from Bluetooth to SPDIF and reclock it. But can the younger end grasp that? How do we get the message across amongst so much noise?

Whatever... we will be doing a couple of Bluetooth enabled devices (instead of some the conventional products we'd planned). We'll do our bit to try and put true HiFi into the younger mind, but whether they'll listen or not, I just don't know. It may be a hiding to nothing.


Edited by Graham Slee - 09 Jun 2015 at 6:24pm

I don't know if the "young" should really any hi-fi manufacturers target audience. Generalising massively, they have and always have had an entirely different set of priorities. Sex, drink, music, drugs, sex & drink & more sex - probably in that order too.

So music is still one of them as far as I can see, they just aren't that fussed what it's played on. And that's fine.. If I put myself in my own 14 year old shoes I was pretty much the same. I was really getting into listening to and learning to play music big time. Only a small (ok...huge) part of that was thinking I might attract gurls if I could play guitar. I bought loads of albums & I couldn't care less what they were played on really. I never had anything that could be called a proper hi-fi until I was around 30.

I still maintain that the best I've ever heard "Dark Side" sound, was in my mates parent's best room, the one no one was allowed in, listening (in the dark of course) on their old stereogram.. y'know the sort that looked like a big sideboard & even had a compartment where they kept their best china - in case the Queen came to tea I think. It was stunning.. quite literally. And even now, on my system that cost.. well... a lot of money, it's not as good as that time.

I think what I'm trying to say is that as long as music forms part of the growing up experience, which it does, even if it's only on a phone with maybe some Beats cans, then there's a chance that some will gravitate to wanting to replay it on a good system.

Ash wrote: Graham Slee wrote: OK, I know he can be quite "vocal"  The politically correct way of informing someone that they can be a bit too gobby.

Ash wrote: Graham Slee wrote: OK, I know he can be quite "vocal"  The politically correct way of informing someone that they can be a bit too gobby.